One Year Down

(From Ryan):

This first year has certainly been an entertaining one. We've had ups and downs, good moments and bad moments. We've seen each other at our best and worst, and we have shown remarkable resilience in working things out. You forgive me for my faults, which makes you my best friend. Despite those things, you put up with them and strive to make me a better person.

I find myself missing the good times we had on our honeymoon. I was experiencing new things and I got to experience them with you. We saw many unique places and got to have fun around our resort. My favorite part of things was getting ice cream with you. Well, and the fact the resort upgraded our room to something that would have made our trip three times as expensive. The room was quite fantastic, though the headboard could have been a little less noisy, hehe.

I would never have guessed we'd be where we are today. I thought we would remain in Layton for a while longer. I thought I would have the same job, live the same routine, and it would just be the two of us. But here we are, with a nice town home, stable income, a baby on the way... Things are truly an adventure for us and I look forward to where we'll be in another year.

Here are the things I've learned about Nat this last year

1) She doesn't wear socks that match. Rather than putting her socks together when sorting through laundry, she just throws them in a pile in the sock drawer. When I help her put on socks (seeing as how she's pregnant and can't bend over), she always has two different socks, which drives me nuts.
2) She's very passionate about life. She takes some tasks quite seriously and will always work to accomplish that task no matter what. While a lot of her anxiety may be due to this passion, this still means that she strives to do the best job possible. Passion defines her
3) Food fixes everything. No matter what stupid thing I do, I can always fix it by getting Nat some fast food. It makes her world right and oftentimes helps propel the forgiveness process forward.
4) She's always right. Need I say more?
5) She likes the cats more than me.
6) She doesn't like to discipline the cats, which makes me worry about our kids. She doesn't like pushing Juniper away when the cat tries to sneak a bite of food. She doesn't like when I slap the cat for bad behavior. Discipline is necessary for order!
7) She's much better than me when it comes to doing chores. And when I compare us, I mean she actually does chores, whereas I don't. She's awesome and keeps our place amazingly clean, which on top of holding a full-time job, is quite impressive.
8) She types surprisingly fast. I'm just used to seeing slow typists because no one is on the computer writing as much as I am. But in this case I am mistaken. Nat writes quite fast and quite well. So kudos for her.
9) Nanny is an amazing cook. I don't know why it is that she likes to go out to eat so much because the food she makes is so much better. She makes a mean dish of mashed potatoes, which means something from an Idaho boy. That is some dang good potatoes. I like it a lot. Very tasty stuff.
10) You don't play Mario Kart 64 against her unless you feel like losing. She's crazy good to the point where I wonder if she just cheats. I wouldn't be surprised! She's the tricky sort.

Thank you for being the blessing that you are in my life, Nat. You are truly my best friend. I look forward to the adventures that await us this next year. I love you so much!